Outward (2019)

It's rare to find a good split-screen co-op experience and Outward is firmly just that. It's a very rough start. Not only due to the game's immense depth, but also it's minimalism in bothering to explain any of the complex systems to you. It's first and foremost a survival game, where most of your time will be spent preparing and traveling. Combat is certainly present and the world is absurdly hostile towards you, but speed and endurance are the best stats. Not only because you can outrun most fights, but also because you have to run everywhere on foot with very limited fast travel options. This is a slow and methodical game. Where the primary currency of the game is knowledge, not anything tangible to the game itself.

So here was my start to the game (which I imagine is pretty standard for most people): We just kind of woke up on a dock with nothing, clothes included. We meandered around the coast and came across a campsite where a dude said we can rest. We do so and then wake up jarringly in a lighthouse. Perhaps this opening sequence was meant to be a dream since you shipwreck? Not sure but it was confusing. Then we're being told we owe an outrageous amount of money and off we go! Very little in the way of guides. All minimalist and we need to scrounge around for a backpack, weapon and waterskin. All doable. Then off into the wilds and... we immediately get our asses beat by the first two bandits we encounter. I took out one and almost got the other, but dead. Spawn back in town. Back into the wilds. Dead again. Back in the wilds. Make it to the cave. We panic and immediately die again, but this time we wake up in the cave. Finally combat clicks and we are able to get the mushroom we had a quest for and after fumbling we find our way back to town. But alas, it was too late. Our debt wasn't settled in time. And now off to the next adventure.

The game has a lot of breadth and depth to it that rivals the most complex action RPG such as POE. It's different in how it has complexity. There aren't deep characters you can pick up front. Instead, you forge your build with various abilities via trainers. There are no rules for how you can spend breakthrough points which unlock build level abilities and can potentially change how you play (the only limit is you have only 3 points to spend). Another interesting design choice is how there isn't experience or levels. Instead money is used to purchase abilities and thus level. In addition, the one faction you choose can also result in other stat bonuses. But you can only choose one faction per playthrough, which encourages replaying the game to do more factions and get those bonuses. The game gains its complexity from the free-form character build, wealth of mechanics and secrets. Each region is a large open world map with plenty to do. Secret weapons and armor to collect.

Combat does change over time as you unlock new abilities, but the real way to gain power in the game is through gear. Before you have good gear, even a random bozo bandit on the road can mean an easy death. Thus combat is best avoided early on. Especially since there isn't XP and rewards from enemies you fight start pretty lackluster, but higher level enemies do drop good material for crafting better gear and sometimes bandits will be using good gear that you can then take for your own. The game is difficult and punishing. Both in how tough early game enemies are but also in how punishing failure can be. For example, your first quest is basically designed for you to fail. Once you learn some tricks, you can actually save your home both quickly and reliably. There's a tunnel at the bottom of the first town that leads through a cave that opens to the shore. Down the shore is a random guy who is injured. If you give him a bandage, you can get a good deed that saves your home. This can be down quickly at the start of each playthrough to trivialize saving your home. Earning the money is a whole other beast and something you are very unlikely to do. At least on a first playthrough.

That's the thing about the game, as previously mentioned knowledge is the highest currency. Knowing where good items and gear are will bring your build online quicker and once you are geared combat starts to feel rewarding and trivial. This design philosophy will be very polarizing. The game demands much from you and if you're willing to invest it is a very rewarding experience. Easily one of the best couch co-op experiences you can have. I did end up duping money when I found a way to load different autosaves. Honestly no shame, gaining money the legit way is very tedious or complicated. If you look at a guide on how to get rich, it will be a very long and convoluted path. Duping removed that extreme tedium. Even with infinite money though, the game is still no cake walk. You still need to get gear and come up with a build. You also need to learn enemy attack patterns. Even with good gear, main bosses in the end game can still kill you in nearly a few hits. Such as MK-7 Golem. My friend and I accidentally started the Rust and Vengeance quest because we had no idea what we were doing. We progressed and hit a huge brick wall with the golem boss. He one shot us almost immediately. So we backed off, did some side activities and got good gear to set us up for success. After several adventures and getting good gear to bring my mage build online and my friend's halberd monk build online we tried again and it was immensely satisfying beating the golem after only a few tries.

That's how the game is. You get sucked into an immersive world. It has complex survival mechanics. Obfuscated quests that require you to think carefully and critically. No quest markers, only descriptions and a map that doesn't track your location. Not gonna lie, we used a guide. No shame in that but I do have mad respect for anyone who figured out this game as intended. Movement speed and endurance, as previously mentioned, are your best friends and easily the most important stats. You will spend most of the game running. There is some fast travel, but it is locked behind the definitive edition and has limitations. You can only fast travel to a DLC location from any major city using a trader, and within the DLC city, it is randomized which other major city you can fast travel to. you can encounter these traders in the wild and they can fast travel you if you have the money and resources.

Magic and enchanting in this game are very novel and I'm a huge fan of both. They take on a ritualistic form. Such as with Rune magic. You have four runes that can be combined into different dual combinations for different magical effects. Which makes spellcasting feel more active and like you are actually conjuring something up. It does make it convoluted and creates a learning curve and experimentation, but IMO that makes it more immersive. Nothing else like it. Enchanting requires you to place totems around a pedestal and light incense. This is certainly janky, but not too bad once you have done it a few times. Certainly the most fun I've had playing a mage style build in a game. Which makes me excited for the sequel.

The only real disappointing thing about this game would be the Brothers DLC. While I understand it's designed to be end-game, I just don't like the general design of its progression. It takes massive amounts of resources and lots of running around and grinding... You first need to collect samples (which are rare and randomly spawned around the map). I believe in the original release, these samples were fully randomized and some of the items from these random and unreliable drops were required for necessary progression. In the definitive edition, they made this better by allowing you to turn in 10 random samples and then have the ability to select which resource you want in 24 hours. Without this change you would have to run around the whole map collecting samples and then reset the spawn rate and do it again until you get the drop you want... what a slog! This is basically MMO design philosophy but bad. Not only because there isn't a monetary reason for Nine Dot studio to do this, but also the sheer unreliability and randomness that was cooked into the samples... the game doesn't need more time sinks. The dungeons and zones in this final DLC area are cool, but it's frustrating how grindy and immense the resource sink is for the DLC. The other DLC I think is great. It's also a challenging late game area with great aesthetic. Still I really enjoyed my time with this game.

Everything about this game is about preparation. Whether through consumables or having the right gear for a quest. It's a game that almost requires you to research to have a fighting chance, which makes it a game firmly not for everyone. But if all of that sounds interesting, it might well be a game you love.

I liked...

• When you get defeated, instead of reloading a previous save you'll get one of many scenarios. Sometimes you get whisked back into the city by a Good Samaritan. Sometimes you get imprisoned and you'd have to escape (and hopefully, retrieve your items). Sometimes you wake up in a cave and get nursed back to health by a friendly abomination.

• Exploration is the name of the game here, you have no mini-map and the main map doesn't tell you where you are in the world. You will get lost, unless you know how to read a compass. Most good equipment are either crafted or found in a chest so better pull up your socks and tighten your laces.

• Survival mechanic are what I longed for in RPGs. In Outward, you'll have to manage your hunger, thirst, sleep and temperature. Your max health and stamina will gradually decrease unless you sleep, you'll receive debuffs when you're hungry or thirsty (and can even die if you let them reach to zero) and you have to dress for the weather in Outward lest you want to get pretty hefty debuffs.

  In addition, you can contract a myriad of diseases from eating raw food, drinking river water and staying out in the cold for too long. Not to mention getting bit by the wildlife.

  Thankfully, you can set up a campfire to cook food and boil water. After that, feel free to set up a tent to rest for the night.

• Inventory Management is another thing you'll have to worry about. Instead of allocating points into increasing your carrying capacity, you can get backpacks to increase your carrying capacity, either through buying at the general store or crafting one in the wild. Plus, you can attach a lantern or a torch to the backpack.

  Also, you won't suddenly slow to a snail's crawl if you go even a milligram over your carrying capacity. Instead, you'll gradually slow down as you pile on more stuff that you can comfortably carry.

  Note that most backpacks will slow your dodge roll so it may be wise to drop your backpack during combat. Not to worry though, you can still have a handful of items in your pocket for heals or buffs.

I have mixed feelings about...

• Combat. Not my cup of tea: all attack animations cannot be cancelled unless you get staggered. Most of the time you are waiting for the enemy to strike while you side-step and try to bring down their stability bar to half, where any successful hit from then on will stagger the enemy, cancelling their attack and stunlocking them for half a second.

  There are skills that allow you to go on the offensive (you even start with one by default) though you'll definitely have to put the time in to be competent enough to be aggressive in combat.

I dislike...

• How your character seemingly lost their vocal cords. If you fall off a cliff, you'd be like Wilhelm and scream. If you exert your strength to swing that mighty big hammer you're wielding, you'd let out a war-cry or grunt at the very least. If you get stabbed down under, you'd wince or cry out in pain. Like an adventurer would.

  Your character does none of that because your character is seemingly doing their best impression of the Terminator, and they're annoyingly good at it.

• How there's only one sound effect for dealing or getting dealt physical damage. Whenever you hit someone, the only sound effect you get is this sort of tingy sound effect which sounds like someone hammering a nail into plywood and the worst part, it's the very same sound effect that's played when someone hits you. It's grating and I'd really prefer more sound effects for hitting certain stuff i.e. steel against flesh, leather etc.

• How the world feels pretty empty. Apart from bandits, the wildlife and the odd caravan or two, every playable world just seems... empty. The landmarks are mostly miscellaneous dungeons accessed after sitting through a loading screen, and you're your only ally, everyone else is either trying to kill you or get you to spend your hard-earned silver.

  I would've liked to see fellow travellers and some guard patrols at least, or envoys from one of the other playable regions' cities.

• How, when exploring the region, there's only one or two music tracks per region and both get played so often, you relish the end. It's fine when you're entering the region (either from another region or from the city) but it gets played so often, I had half a mind to mute the music, only to forgo that option as knowing when I've entered combat status is paramount. With how often the music plays while you're exploring the region, it's akin to the game saying "you're still in the region, by the way."

• How the NPCs are one-dimensional. NPCs in this game only serve one of three things: to give you quests, to give you information or to give you items to buy. That's it. There is no option to ask about their day, nothing. Just, "Hi! Do this for me and I will give you reward." I would've liked to have an actual conversation with the NPCs, especially in the cities.

Overall...

This is a low-budget Euro-esque (I say Euro-esque as the only thing it has in common with Euro RPGs is the early game) RPG with survival mechanics and a combat system that is the hellspawn of From Software and Piranha Bytes, and not in a good way.

Did I have fun, yes. Would I come back for more, not really.

I'd recommend it to fans of Euro RPGs who's missing their daily dosage of masochism that is the early game of every Euro RPG.

You know after hours and hours and probably 47 hours straight of playing outward (and I hear you only get a good character after like 70 hours of playing the game, give this game some time if you wanna feel accomplished) I gotta say: what the fuck...

The concept of an open world dark souls, with survival elements like sleeping in a tent and eating, along with all over the place pacing couldn’t have been done weirder, I consider Outward to be very flawed and it is yet another game that is hard to rate full on stars rather than like 3.9/5 or something. The game at times feels like it was a repurposed canceled mmorpg which assets got turned into an actual game half way in with Co-Op gameplay. But this game is truly... A hardcore survival game. To the point all you have as a map is... A map and your compass and you gotta follow actual directions and memorize the place.

The low budget feel with a massive gigantic world is inexplicable! Not only that but I feel as if the game was explicitly made to fuck with people. I wonder if they designed a dark souls clone first and then hastily designed an open world around it, because it feels all glued together at random. The pacing in the game is akin to nonlinear, and you know of that like 1 mmorpg in the mid 2000s that seemed as if it came out of nowhere? It's huge and it’s like only a few people know it exists, this game has that feel except this time it's an actual game.

There is a sense of unknown in playing this game, not many people heard of it and it might even be considered an "obscure gem", you only have your wits to discover what you can do in this game because a lot of it is you exploring it alone. Nothing really helps you, sometimes things are vague and there's no fast travel (WHICH WOULD BE nice like even DARK SOULS had shortcuts). Like someone stretched the uniqueness and somber tone of Dark Souls to the Skyrim formula, what the fuck?

Despite sometimes having to walk across over and over the same paths to end up in a location and going on your daily grind of getting items around the way. I'm surprised at how some aspects of this game work amazingly well and keep you hooked: Like the entire game is immensely engaging by taking some open world ideas on how to be engaging from Zelda: BOTW with how everything around you is important for something, whenever it be for crafting or survival aspects, seriously not many games do that in which it needs your constant attention so that you are always on the move doing something like picking bushes around you, collecting a bit of wood to make a fire place so that you can place.

And you have to do this if you wish to succeed, it is strict with how much you need to engage with your surroundings as the first thing in the game is: Pay your debt under a timer. Which is a TEST, it is really there as a test to see if you're good enough to experience the rest of the game, which is where the tips start, most people have written severe tips on how to play this game because you are really thrown into this world without knowing nothing at all, you need HELP, but here's the tip: under your house and in a pathway under the fishermen place in the first town you live in, is a cave with a pickaxe mine, with that, you can go explore and find a mine that you can sell for 60 coins if you're lucky! And that is how most people pay their debt. Basically this is the major lesson of the game: Always look for every means to win.

After you prove yourself with the initial test which is basically there to wheat out the weak. The game opens up, you can sleep and waste as much time as you want now, you were only being timed there. And that's great because sleeping anywhere is an amazing exploit mechanic that recharges health and is necessary, because you'll always enter a fight that you mostly lose half of your health.

Following the Dark Souls style of "always engaging" difficulty, all enemies, no matter weak or small are a threat to you, even if you are the toughest shit in the world, you got the best equipment, the first enemies can still be a challenge, and if you give them the chance they can kill you in 2 to 5 hits. Outward despite being an RPG of some sorts, doesn't have leveling up or normal means of improving your character. Your money and what equipment you grinded for is what dictates how far you've come, and considering you can go BACK TO 0 in this game... That's very dangerous.

But... Only sometimes is that danger prevalent! Let's talk about how this game manages the death penalty which is interesting. A lot of the features in this game are purely RNG, for example what loot you get which sometimes you get something overpowered which helps a lot, but the most RNG thing is death. You could wake up in a camp next to a demon that helps you, you could wake up thirsty really far, and you could wake up at the beach looted. Most of these aren't that bad once you got like a hold on things, at best you'll just lose a few 20 coins, and you should've stored those in your house anyways.

However sometimes the death penalty which is random is fucky. For example in the first world there is an overleveled extra place "Vendavel Fortress", south of the first town. They imprison you, and if you do this at the very start of the game it's like "oh okay, I didn't miss anything" but if you go there with a good set, prepare to say goodbye to it FOREVER. If you die with a different set of items in that location AGAIN, the most recent items you equipped and died with will replace those items you worked hard for, they are gone.

Most death penalties aren't that bad, most are: "okay you lost your stuff, pick up your backpack again that must be close, if you were de-equipped you should look for a chest of where you were apprehended and your stuff should be there if you weren't killed... Again) but there are some ways of which this game can lock you in a place with overleveled enemies and then you'll go "hmmm maybe this time i can defeat them" and it'll overload your last death equipment. Which goes to the one major complaint about this game: Yes, it is hard, and you can even overcome that difficulty by cheesing some stuff by like buying oil and mixing it with water with a alchemy kit you buy from the first mage shop girl and get like 200 coins quick per 3 days, but it is undefendable that THE PACING IS all over the place.

The fact that you don't know what location is good for your current character progression and the area of affect doesn't matter is PURE, trial and error. And it is a very slow charge towards being somewhat decent in this game. Outside of unexpected shitty things happening that put you back to 0, I gotta admit that a lot of the death penalties are very neat, in fact I kinda adore the unique health and stamina "burning", basically if you get hit a lot or if you run a lot, your max HP or max Stamina is burned and replaced with a darker bar, to replenish this, you can sleep or drink tea. You get tea from beetles (that you mix with water in a cooking pot) that you get from mining and picking berries. Again a lot like the frogs and fairies of Zelda BOTW in which doing a mundane thing sometimes gets you a special thing that you use for elixirs. But unlike Zelda BOTW this game is actually difficult and you need that shit all the time, so you gotta learn recipes to have like a daily routine of getting stuff and crafting, it's actually very engrossing.

And you gotta do that crafting shit fast because in this game, a lot of items can rot. And it isn't the worst rotting system but it keeps you on your toes and it basically makes all of your craftable items a result of circustance because you'd have to be lucky to get a certain series of items so that you can craft a specific one, a lot of stuff you cannot store because it will rot so you cannot save that item for later, the crafting process should be there and now. That a bit more easier later on when you buy the cooking pot which means you can cook stuff on a fireplace and that way you don't lose the chance of cooking a thing given the items you luckily found on your journey. If you got food and you aren't gonna travel in a while, sell it rather than let it rot. The food items themselves do minor things like 0.25 health per 600 seconds or stamina regenates faster for 700 seconds, but you need food items to make a potion. Honestly by this point, just sell the food items and buy a potion cuz it'll last forever and money doesn't rot.

But at best, what you get by death is having to walk all over to that location again depending on where you hit that checkpoint on the map. It doesn't take that much of a long time to walk but some feel that the places can be empty even if they are scattered around with a lot of interesting stuff most of the time, I definetely feel that they could've contained more of the open spaces, but it isn't my biggest flaw with this game.

This is indeed a game that makes you feel as if you can look back and say "wow I sure learned a lot more as time went" because there is an immense sense of achievement, even if the achievement is small because you are always weak. But you'll be surprised how much this game can pack HONESTLY. It really is 3 times the size of Dark Souls in content. Oh and don't make my mistake and go to the next worlds quickly, you'll just die over and over again, although I do recommend going on an item run just once to Monsoon (it's in the Hallowed Marsh) because there you can buy a better (and best for a while) backpack until you can like solve a late-game puzzle to get an even bigger one buy buying electric coils. Again, pacing is all over the place and there are some areas in the first world which need batteries you buy in like the second world or something.

Oh and despite it being A VERY INTERESTING EXPERIENCE, it is flawed as a mother fucker, it is so weird to fully explain what kinda of quality this game emits. It's like an indie game, but with one of the hugest ambition I've seen in a while. And here's the thing: Even if you like this game you hate it, I would recommend to about ANY dark souls fan or anyone who is interested in a hardcore experience. Because there's a lot of bullshit in genuine attempts at making the next biggest RPG, and it's very addicting.

Oh and the game kinda reminds me of Gothic too in the sense it is pretty much for the sadistic. You can get a lot of enjoyment from it however if you are willing to ask for help or trial and error a lot.